


And So They Danced Together

by DilynAliceBlake



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, its sweet tho i promise, why not both
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 01:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20685167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DilynAliceBlake/pseuds/DilynAliceBlake
Summary: Spinel and Steven dance near the beach.  A short attempt at romance through the eyes of someone who has trouble believing she can be loved.





	And So They Danced Together

Spinel squints at the humans on the beachfront below, gathered beneath earth’s strange string lights.

“What are they doing? Humans can’t...fuse.” She’s sure of that much, her time on earth and with Peridot and the others getting her used to the limitations of organic life. (You juggle people and chainsaws together _ one time _ and suddenly it’s an entire crash course on the fragility of life on this nowhere planet.)

“Humans do it for fun. You know, just to spend time together.”

“Like a game?” she asks, ever hopeful that she might get the chance to play with Steven, to get him to smile. To do something kind and nice and right for him after everything she messed up, try to make up for-

  
He’s talking, and his voice drags her out of her spiral before it can truly begin.

“No no,” he assures, putting one hand on her shoulder and the other at her hip in a mimicry of the humans below their rocky outcropping. He does this so often, the casual touching, you would think that she never even tried to kill him, tried to tear away everything he’d ever loved- but then they’re moving. She’s dancing with him.

It’s dimmer here, and the music barely reaches them, but she settles her hands awkwardly and supposes that maybe he’s right. He guides her, and his eyes are so very endless, and this doesn’t feel like a game.

The steps speed up with the music, and the squeak of her shoes distracts her. She looks down at her feet, then she misses her step and she stumbles out of his arms, out of his reach. It was perfect, but now she’s gone and ruined it. She’s always ruining _ everything _!

“I’m no good at this,” Spinel despairs, because it isn’t fair. This is entertainment, she was _ built _ for entertainment, but maybe all those years standing still ruined her. Maybe-

“Hey,” Steven says, soft and warm and right back in front of her with his eyes as endless as the sky, but never so lonely, never as desolate as those years had been.

His hands fall back into place, the left on her hip, the right on her shoulder, but then as the song seeps into the air and their steps begin anew his right hand moves to the dip in her waist, and hers glide as natural as breathing 

As natural as laughing

As natural as **anything** to the back of his neck.

When he speaks again, she knows that he isn’t just talking about dancing.

“Nobody is good on their first try. You learn, and you practice, and things get,” this twirl, Steven lifts her, and he must be using his powers, because she swears she’s floating, swears he’s glowing and oh-so-pink with jubilition. “Smoother,” he finishes as he sets her down so lightly her shoes don’t even peep.

Her pigtails perk up and she manages a watery smile as she leads their next turn, because _ maybe she can do this _ , and he’s smiling back. She feels important, seen, ** _found_ ** . She feels like she’s the only thing that matters to him right now, like he would **never** forget her. They’re the center of the universe and the world blurs around them.

Then everything brightens, and she can feel them, and it’s magical, so encompassing, not even a _ little bit _ lonely-

The music clicks off, and they revert once more into separate beings. The dancing is over, and they are once again apart.

Spinel tears at her hair in frustration. “I was just supposed to dance, and I can’t even do that right! I’m such a screwup! No wonder she didn’t want me around."

“No, that’s not it at all! You’re-”

She cuts him off because she’s heard it all before.

“Terrible? Ridiculous? Frivolous?” She affects White Diamond’s haughty tone. “_ Imperfect? _ ” There was a time when such a condemnation meant shattering, meant death, but things have changed. _ Steven _ changed them, and when he tilts her head up in his hand and she looks into his eyes they’re just eyes, not endless at all. She barely has a chance to wonder what that even _ means _ before he’s smiling at her and saying her name like she’s the only spinel ever to have existed.

“Spinel, you don’t have to be perfect to be wonderful.”

It’s uttered like a secret, then his lips are on hers, and game isn’t the right word, fun isn’t the right word, but whatever it is she wants it. She’s crying again, but this time it doesn’t hurt. This time, it’s wonderful.


End file.
